A FAMILY had a miraculous escape when a gas blast ripped through a tiny Marsden house.

Relatives of 90-year-old Amelia Everill were at her home on Towngate in the village centre when it was torn apart by the explosion.

Daughter Gladys Woodhead, 62, grandson Geoffrey Woodhead, 32, and great-granddaughters Ellie, six and four-year-old Chloe managed to get out of the wrecked house.

Marsden firefighters rescued Mrs Everill from the debris.

All five victims were taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. Mr Woodhead, Ellie and Chloe were treated for shock and allowed home.

Mrs Woodhead and Mrs Everill were transferred to a specialist burns unit at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

Mrs Everill has suffered burns to her face and hands and Mrs Woodhead has burns to her hands. Their injuries are believed to be superficial and both are stable.

The explosion - which happened shortly before 4pm - was heard across the village.

Marsden firefighters were on the scene within three minutes with back-up fire engines from Huddersfield and Slaithwaite also sent.

Sub-officer Graham Holroyd, in charge of the Marsden crew, said: "The elderly lady had been sitting on the settee and was blown off it by the force of the explosion.

"One of our crew members is a trained paramedic and he gave her first aid and checked her over.

"The back of the house was blown apart and she was lucky the roof at the front had not collapsed on her. It had dropped and may have given her some shelter.

"We felt the house was starting to collapse and so put her on a spineboard and carried her out."

A fire started to spread among the debris and other firefighters tackled that while Mrs Everill was rescued.

Assistant Divisional Officer John Webster was in overall charge of the incident.

He praised the actions of the Marsden crew - part-time firefighters who live and work in the village.

He said: "The Marsden crew did an excellent job and put themselves at risk by going into a wrecked building which was in danger of collapsing on them.

"They gave first aid and assessed the lady's injuries in the house first. It was important to check her because simply moving her straight away could have made any injuries worse.

"Everyone in the house at the time of the explosion must have been upstairs to have survived."

He revealed that people living in the Towngate area had smelled gas during yesterday morning - but it seems unclear if the leak was reported to Transco.

Assistant Divisional Officer Webster added: "There is a full investigation into this incident being carried out by Transco, fire investigation experts and the Health and Safety Executive.

"The explosion happened in the house, but at this stage we don't know how the gas got in there - if there was a leak inside or if it had seeped in from outside.

"If anyone smells gas they must ring Transco immediately and evacuate the area."

Mrs Everill's grandson Craig Perfitt said this morning: "We understand that the burns are superficial and both are stable. The whole family is totally shocked.

"I rushed to the scene as soon as I was told and it was total pandemonium with fire engines everywhere."

Mrs Everill's home is a former cobbler's workshop on Towngate next to a stream which flows from Wessenden reservoir into the River Colne.

The house has a living-room and kitchen upstairs and a bedroom downstairs. It was flooded in the downpours of July 2002.

Neighbour Graham Carter, 65, said: "I was in the Swan pub on Peel Street and heard the dull thud of the explosion from there.

"I rushed back home and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Mrs Everill's relatives had got out and were stood at the corner crying and a doctor was inside the house with her. He came out and said she was OK."

Neighbouring homes were evacuated and people were not allowed home until around 10pm.

A Transco spokesman said: "We are on site this morning along with the Health and Safety Executive who are carrying out an inquiry into the cause of the explosion.

"Our first priority was to make the house safe.

"We disabled the gas supply to 15 Towngate and remained on site into the night monitoring gas levels.

"As a precaution we evacuated seven other properties. All were allowed back apart from a man at number 19 because we were unhappy with the levels of gas still in the area."